French imprint Eilean Records was a truly remarkable label with 100 releases of ambient and related musics. I was going through my collection today and came across this album I purchased sometime in 2018. Sublamp is a fellow Los Angelino, Ryan Conner, who is a sound and video artist by profession. This work, like all […]
Vedan Kolod are a troupe based in Moscow, Russia, who do sterling work interpreting medieval Russian folkloric music, especially Siberian tunes, with a modern twist. The label, CPL, is run by my friend and colleague, Christian Pliefke, whose taste in artists is impeccable, and every release he’s curated for his imprint has been solid listening. […]
Rüstəm Quliyev’s story is one of tragedy. First, he was born in the Nagorno-Karabach area of Azerbaijan (contested by Armenia as recently as last year, where a small war was fought over the territory). The fighting was so bad in Quliyev’s youth that he had to flee. He would move to Baku, the capital of […]
From Sahel Sounds: We are excited to share with you our latest Name Your Price sampler, Sahel Sounds Label Sampler 3. This year’s features a mix of tracks from recent releases by the likes of Wau Wau Collectif and Tidiane Thiam, some deep cuts from our Agrim Agadez and Balani Show Super Hits compilations, fan favorites from our back catalog, and a […]
From the bio: Allan J. Kimmel (aka Departure Street) is an American/French solo electric guitarist based in Paris France. He plays alternative ambient and neo-folk music with shoegaze & American blues underpinnings. I could not have said it more succinctly. This is not my first time reviewing Allan’s wonderful guitar work. I featured his previous […]
Tom Carter was the guitarist of improvisers Charalambides, one of the heirs of fine Texas psychedelia. His new album, Beautiful Savior, comes as a pleasant, hopeful respite after being inundated by moronic ‘devil’-related titles. Is this an acid-Christian album? Who knows? The tones from this album speak for themselves. The music is beautiful, sparse and […]
This release by Ah-Q Jazz Arkestra is a joint Chinese-American project. The back story is rather interesting. From the Bandcamp website: In early 2020, we found ourselves separated and stuck at home. Even though four of us were in Beijing, COVID19 control measures prevented us from meeting face to face. And David was much further […]
Per Najbjerg Odderskov is an artist I enjoyed featuring over at my old blog, and I’m pleased to hear he has a new release out. It is as dark, heavy and claustrophobic (and yes, that’s a good thing for this genre of music) as his best works. The gloomy feel reminds me of peak 1990s […]
This article at The Getty’s blog does a great job tying Frank Sinatra, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and the legendary recording studio they worked at here in Los Angeles. Many thanks to my friend Andrés for pointing me to this and so many treasures over the years.
Andrew Land is a composer out of Birmingham, England whose work is simple and rhythmic, played in an elegant manner, without sounding simplistic. It’s minimalistic, so those of you who enjoy the works of Harold Budd, Philip Glass or even Hans-Joachim Roedelius may want to pass your time enjoying this EP. If you prefer to […]
